ZERO S02E01: Quiet day in New York
Episode 1: Quiet day in New York is the first episode of the second season of Star Rider ZERO. It aired on October 12, 2014. It involves the Wellace family recovering from the battle in New York, when a new thread rises on the horizon. When a rogue SPECTER operative targets Ben Wellace and Anne Wellace, Mark has to rise to the rescue to save them from the gifted man, Characters introduced: Jon Dexter, Captain Liam Stonebridge, Sergeant Ellenore Scott, Mr. Black Production and writing time: 'October 12, 2014 Synopsis '''SIX MONTHS AGO - '''A press conference was held by Reed Gould speaking about the recent waves of violence in New York. He informs the present press about the situation as it is. The Mexus Cartel has completely withdrawn from the city of New York, the city is safe, but it shall need repairs, it shall need to be rebuilt. Therefore to augment the NYPD’s presence, Gould and the governor have decided it is best to have the National Guard remain until things have been settled down. The National Guard presence will be led by Captain Stonebridge, he will be working together closely with Gould and his office to secure the city against any further hostilities. Martial law has been removed upon order from President Aaron Palmer and people can go their own way with care again. He’ll take a few questions and then the press conference is over. One of the reporters called Rebecca Porter asks him whether the city is under complete military control and Gould points out that the temporary Town Hall has been set up at the Museum of National Arts. '''PRESENT – '''A hotel door opens and Mark Wellace enters the hotel room, the same suite he was in when he first got shot and distanced himself from his family. Now he walked into Emma, Ben and Anne having breakfast. They are happy to see Mark again and Mark asks them what they want to do, it’s the final day of holidays, tomorrow they are heading to school again. Anne and Ben tells their father and mother they are going to the rebuilt swimming pool with some friends that survived the fights in New York. A knock on the door is heard and someone calls room service. Mark asks them if they ordered room service. Emma says no, but Anne tells him she did. Mark opens the door and a man enters with a tray of food and drinks. He says he is Jon Dexter and he shall be personally serving them as their personal butler, as ordered by the hotel’s owner. Mark wonders why they are getting the preferential treatment and the man tells them the hotel’s owner told him they know how much Mark did for the city and wanted to repay him in a certain way, thus a personal butler. As he puts the tray down and leaves, Mark wonders with his kids and wife how they are gonna eat this food, they just had breakfast. 'SPECTER OSP BASE – NEW YORK – UNDISCLOSED LOCATION – 'SPECTER Director Laura Hand and Agent Lokin were standing in front of multiple screens. Director Hand asks for a sitrep as one of the analysts tells her the camera’s are in place, contact has been made. On the large screen in the middle, the face of the personal butler of the family Wellace appears. Director Hand says they got a lock on the target. Agent Lokin orders the analysts to put all intel through to the field teams. He is in the hotel, he is considered armed and dangerous. The analyst asks if they are really doing this, going after one of their own. Agent Lokin tells them he is a rogue agent, he once was Agent 007, now he is a danger to society. He has to be taken out or contained. When asked for advice, Agent Lokin tells the analyst to warn the teams not to allow Dexter to get in touch with time. '''NEW YORK – '''As the Wellace family is enjoying their second breakfast through Dexter’s hands, Jon Dexter returns downstairs to the quarters of the staff of the hotel. As Jon Dexter makes small talk with one of the bartenders taking a break, he notices the number of people in the lobby increasing, noticably police. Realizing some of the people are SPECTER agents, Jon Dexter starts moving back to the emergency exit, realizing his cover is blown. SPECTER tactical teams enter the kitchens, ordering the rest to get out and the rest of the workers exit the kitchens quickly. The tactical team commander orders Jon Dexter to stand down. Dexter however tells them they are out of time and he touches a clock on the wall, suddenly disappearing and then very quickly all tacteam members are assaulted and thrown on the ground. Jon Dexter appears on the same spot kicking in the jaw of the tacteam commander, then taking the gun and killing him, before he touches the clock again and disappears. CCTV camera’s around the hotel then reveal him one second later to appear outside the hotel. Mark hears a knock on the door when they were finishing up breakfast and when he opens the door he finds himself face to face with Captain Stonebridge who informs him a dangerous criminal is on the loose and that he already messed up people from this hotel and therefore all guests are advised to stay inside their rooms. Mark asks him what exactly happened and Stonebridge tells him as they were the last to actually survive an encounter with the criminal, after which Mark deduces its Jon Dexter Captain Stonebridge refers too, he may be in bigger trouble then others. Mark says they are quiet fine and feel safe, but thanks the Captain for the warning in advance. Mark and Emma watch each other, Emma knowing fully well what Mark can do, but Mark shakes his head. Captain Stonebridge asks if they have any questions and Mark tells him, his children have just left for the swimming pool, but they have met Dexter. Captain Stonebridge tells him he is aware of that, he has already dispatched a team to secure both kids. Mark thanks him, being glad he doesn’t have to use the powers of ZERO to do it. At the swimming pool, Ben and Anne are sitting at the side at sun beds, enjoying a nice drink with their friends, but unaware that Jon Dexter had appeared in the swimming pool park as well. As Ben and one of his friends Justin leave to take a ride of the water coaster, Anne and her female friends talk girl stuff. At that point, a humvee with a team from the National Guard arrives, being led by Sergeant Scott to secure Ben and Anne. However they fall for a trap when Jon Dexter, who uses his time touch shifting ability to evade them and kill two of the team members, notices them. A second Hummer arrives, this one a SPECTER Hummer with a second team, this one led by Agent Archer to take in their former colleague. Agent Archer meets up with Sergeant Scott, telling her this is a joint mission and they already lost two men. Sergeant Scott tells him she has no problem with him taking the lead, but they get to question him first on the assault on the tac teams and the people in the hotel. Agent Archer says they got to catch Dexter first. '''NEW YORK – TEMPORARY NYPD PRECINCT – '''Captain Walton Brack enters the temporary command room set up by the NYPD and the National Guard, meeting Captain Stonebridge there, saying he was briefed on the situation within the hotel. He also caught that the Wellace family was caught in the middle, he wants Captain Stonebridge to know it is imperitive that the Wellace family is safe. Captain Brack says he is on his way to speak with Major Gould, who had called a meeting to discuss the course of action against the prosecution of the captive Mexus Cartel members. Before leaving Captain Stonebridge wonders if the major is expecting trouble then, at which Brack tells him there is still one Underlord loose, and even with the help of Geodreon of the former Kingpins they were unable to track him down. And Stonebridge may not know it yet, but Hiroko Aiken has always been considered the most dangerous of the Underlords. They break away both and go their own way. '''NEW YORK – AQUADROME FUN PARK – '''Ben returns from the pool and sets himself down next to his sister, when he notices Jon Dexter approaching the group. Anne not being weary, Ben notices something is wrong as he also sees police officers and soldiers from the National Guard approaching him from behind. When Dexter goes into action, Ben and Anne duck as the police and National Guard order him to stand down. Grabbing a watch he is holding, he disappears however and within seconds the National Guard is down on their knees, with three soldiers dead. Further casualties are prevented when Agent Archer appears, knocking Dexter away from Sergeant Scott. Agent Archer warns Sergeant Scott not to intervene, this is a power the National Guard cannot handle. Sergeant Scott orders her remaining soldiers to stand down as Jon Dexter manages to flee their hands by using the watch again. When Sergeant Scott wonders how the hell Dexter is doing that, Agent Archer reveals Dexter can manipulate time and speed, therefore moving at an own dimension. Archer is barely able to knock Dexter down before he can even harm Sergeant Scott. Outside the AquaDrome Fun Park, Mark and Emma arrive, busy looking for their children as they find themselves in the midst of a mass hysteria thanks to Jon Dexter and his faceoff with Agent Archer and Sergeant Scott. Emma tells Mark to do whatever he must to get their children to safety. Mark agrees, but also knows he cannot change into Star Rider ZERO here in the middle of the crowd. Mark disappears behind a small sanitary building while Emma goes into the park looking for an official to see where her children were, or just follow the crowd te other way around. Emma looks around only to find herself unable to find her children. At that point she is being discovered and led away by Sergeant Scott, who says her presence will make her a likely target for Dexter if she sticks around. Emma argues she can handle it and demands that Sergeant Scott finds her children. Sergeant Scott says she is working on that. Jon Dexter is now using his time powers to escape various attempts by both the National Guard and the SPECTER team to capture or kill him and manages to catch Ben to use as a human shield. At that point he is being caught off guard with Star Rider ZERO appearing behind him, knocking him down. Star Rider ZERO engages Jon Dexter in a fist fight, only to find himself being outpowered by Dexter easily. Only by using electricity and water together, Star Rider ZERO manages to evade being knocked out by Dexter. He is however helped by Agent Archer and his agents who keep heavy fire on Dexter, forcing him to keep evading the attacks. Dexter who realizes he is in a bind, touches the clock he was holding on his arm and disappears, only to appear at the other side of the pool with Ben. Dexter says he is here to avenge what SPECTER did to him and his family. Agent Archer and Star Rider ZERO attempt to get after him, but he once again disappears through using his time powers. Star Rider ZERO asks Agent Archer what Dexter meant. Agent Archer says Jon Dexter once was part of a special program of SPECTER. He was a member of the Codex Six, a registered group of six assets of SPECTER with special abilities. The Codex Six were experimented upon by earlier SPECTER Directors before Hand, but then one day they broke out of their captivity, promising that they would gain revenge upon SPECTER. They never surfaced after, until Director Hand’s meeting with a former Kingpin of the Mexus Cartel, after which Jon Dexter was the first to come back. Star Rider ZERO says he must be stopped at any account and Agent Archer agrees, saying they have orders to take Dexter down with any means necessary. Star Rider ZERO deduces that Hand may have agreed that any other casualties are collateral damage, including Ben. Jon Dexter uses his abilities to get a car and drive away from the Fun Park, but he soon realizes the city is completely sealed off by the National Guard and SPECTER. Ben asks him to let him go, but Jon Dexter tells him he cannot do that. He needs Ben to be able to escape. Therefore he keeps Ben with him. At that point a SPECTER helicopter arrives with two mounted machine guns. After avoiding the gunfire from the helicopter Jon Dexter makes use of his time powers to make himself, Ben and the car they are in disappear. Traffic camera’s show Jon Dexter reappears two blocks further into the city, where he gets a call. It is Agent Archer, who tells him to stand down before anyone else gets hurt. Jon Dexter tells him that of all people he should know how he feels, he should know what he can do and how it feels to be hunted. Agent Archer tells him he made peace with that a long time ago. Jon Dexter disconnects the call and believes he is safe when a second helicopter arrives and Star Rider ZERO jumps on the hood of the car, immediately frying the car’s electrical wiring. Making sure Ben is okay, Star Rider ZERO engages Jon Dexter, but he makes clever use of his time powers to best Star Rider ZERO. In the end Star Rider ZERO manages to destroy the watch Jon Dexter uses to use his powers and knocks him down. Jon Dexter tells him he is just like him; both have abilities they didn’t ask for, both have a destiny that they didn’t want and both have been forced upon them. He manages to get up and dodge the blows of Star Rider ZERO, before revealing he had a grenade in his hand, removing the clip and blowing it up. Star Rider ZERO manages to shield Ben just in time before he was in the blast radius of the grenade’s explosion. Agent Archer and Sergeant Scott arrive with Emma and Anne in tow, seeing the explosion site and Star Rider ZERO says Jon Dexter blew himself up. Agent Archer says Dexter is cleverer then that, revealing traffic camera’s picked Dexter up at the other side of the city, meaning he jumped a large distance. Star Rider ZERO says they need to get after him and Agent Archer tells him to relax, they have got it covered. On the camera’s feed is then revealed that a stun button was placed upon Dexter the moment he blew the grenade up, taken from a watch he had stolen from one of their agents. Jon Dexter lies on the ground, stunned, unable to do a thing. The SPECTER Hummer arrives along with two jeeps of the National Guard and a SPECTER Helicopter with Director Hand in it. Director Hand welcomes Jon Dexter back to the land of the living, saying they shall not let him disappear a second time. Agent Lokin and two other agents arrive with a steel box in which Jon Dexter is placed. Director Hand tells Dexter this is a special box designed for him, he cannot escape or use his powers within the box. Jon Dexter swears revenge against SPECTER and Star Rider ZERO, before he disappears into the helicopter. Director Hand thanks Sergeant Scott and her men from the National Guard saying they shall take it from here. One of her fellow soldiers asks Sergeant Scott if they will see Dexter again and Sergeant Scott says who knows, time will tell. '''NEW YORK – AQUADROME FUN PARK – '''Emma, Anne and Ben both get free drinks from the park when Mark returns to them. Knowing fully well Mark is Star Rider ZERO, Emma helps him in covering up why he wasn’t there. Mark comes sit with them, asking them if they are enjoying their last day of holidays before heading back to school and Anne and Ben agree that it could be better. At that point Ashley appears with a young man, introducing him as Michael Bellick, her new boyfriend. Making each other’s acquantance, Ashley and Michael come sit with them, saying the city has changed since the battle against the Mexus Cartel. Six months have passed and the city seems to have picked up its usual pace. Mark orders a full round of drinks as he offers a toast to the upcoming future and that it may be peacefull and quiet as usual. They start drinking and when Anne asks if they are all going off the water coasters they all go, including Ashley and Michael. '''UNDISCLOSED LOCATION – '''A woman was sitting at a table, having five cards in front of her. Her eyes glow with a green light as the middle card turns around, revealing an old tarot card, The Emperor. A man in a black suit arrives asking whether everything is going according to plan. The woman calls the man Mr. Black and tells him yes, everything is going according to plan. The Emperor is in position. She turns around the card left of the The Emperor, revealing The Hanged Man. She tells Mr. Black the Hanged Man is in position as well, the pawns are moving, their day of reckoning is near. The day the world will know the power of Fortune and Faith is on their hand. She tells Mr. Black to start making the appropriate arrangements. 'THE CUBE – '''Agent Lokin, Director Hand and Agent Archer exit the elevator to the lower levels of the Cube facility. The metal box with Jon Dexter in it was waiting for them on top of a hatch. Jon Dexter tells them this is not their style. Director Hand agrees on that, but also says drastic measures need to be taken in these times. She pulls a lever and the hatch opens, revealing a pipe below it. She says Dexter will be transported to the Pearl. As the box drops through the pipe, another hatch opens below allowing the box to enter a large underwater facility, where he is welcomed by the warden of The Pearl. He gets transported to a cell block where there is only one more prisoner, Geodreon. To be continued … Trivia *Jon Dexter who appeared during this episode as one member of the Codex Six is the same Agent Dexter that Julius Lokin spoke to during the The Vietnam Contingency series' final episode. Seasons 1 - 2 Episodes '''1 - 2 - 3 - 4